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Former Detroit Police Chief An Early Democratic Front-Runner For Wayne County Executive

DETROIT (WWJ) -- A new poll has Warren Evans leading among Democratic voters likely to participate in the primary election for Wayne County Executive in August.

The former Wayne County Sheriff and former Detroit Police Chief said that being the front-runner in the polls for the position is humbling, but that there is still work to do.

"It's good to hear, but it doesn't change our strategy at all," Evans said. "If anything, it probably intensifies our efforts going forward because there really is no poll to vote or people to vote (yet). We still need to touch the voters and work hard through election day."

Evans said that if he were to become Wayne County Executive, his first action would be to hire the best and brightest for his staff.

"I think that it's the amount of time that I spent working on projects -- the ability to bring people together to a common resolve and results," Evans said. "My past 30 to 35 years in both city and county government are an indication of how successful I've been at that."

When asked about what went wrong under incumbent Robert Ficano's leadership and what he would do different, Evans said that administration would strive to earn the respect of other government bodies.

"Those aren't things that just happen -- those are things that happen because they either weren't well-planned or cooperatively done," Evans said. "I'm not going to have an administration where we're looked at unfavorably by surrounding counties, by the state legislature and county commission and other stakeholders."

Evans and others are all striving to unseat Ficano, who faced corruption convictions for several of his top staffers, an FBI corruption probe of his administration and a failed jail project that went $100 million over budget before it was abandoned.

Like Ficano, Evans is not without scandal. He was forced out of his job as Detroit Police Chief in 2010 after a pitch reel for a reality show was released showing him breaking down doors and toting automatic weapons. Then-mayor Dave Bing had banned TV crews from going out with police after a 7-year-old girl was killed during a police raid filmed for "The First 48."

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